


Bridge of Words

by deskclutter



Series: both a wave and a particle [2]
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Gen, lots of unnamed cameos, mentions of fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 15:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deskclutter/pseuds/deskclutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Gold Crown Town's Fire Festival this year, Google releases an interactive doodle based on the legend of Princess Tutu.</p><p>Written for Fakiru Week 2013: Modern.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bridge of Words

Gold Crown Academy bustled in the weeks leading up to the Fire Festival. Preparation for Gold Crown Town's most prestigious dance festival was gruelling. All the practice rooms were permanently in use; if the dancers hadn't already barricaded themselves inside, the music students were camped out.  
  
The day itself dawned bright and clear, and the special class was already running through their Swan Lake routine. Their lead dancer shook her head when they paused. "We know the Eleki troupe will be at the festival tonight. I will not stand for anything less than our very best performance. We're here not only to dance Giselle's love; we are here to show our love for Giselle's dance in every step. Now, again!"  
  
"I've got to run through my part again, _last_ time," one of the flautists said to her art section friend. "I shudder at the thought of messing up tonight. Last run through, cross my heart, and then I'll join you for lunch."  
  
"Wait wait wait," said her friend. "I _have_ to show you today's Google doodle!"  
  
"Why-- _no_ ," said the flautist. "Oh my gosh, Google did the Fire Festival for today?"  
  
They had; a traditional Fire Festival bonfire was roasting the Google logo. The yellow 'O' in 'Google' had been transformed into the Fire Festival prize, the golden apple desired by all lovers. A pair of dancers stood on either side of the bonfire, one a knight, the other a prima donna known to even the smallest child in Gold Crown Town.  
  
" _And_ there's a game," said the art student triumphantly. "You'd better do your run through quickly. Everyone in school's already playing it."  
  
This was more than a little exaggerated, as almost all the dance section was at final costume fittings and too stressed out to think about anything but the festival, but a fair number of drama and fine arts students were clustered by the school fountain. "You have to catch the ducks that are swimming on the water," one of the art kids was explaining. "Drag them over to the bridge of yellow circles and drop them in to make the bridge. See how there are words in each duck? You have to make sure they form a sentence. If you put a duck in the wrong place, it will swim away. When you get it, Princess Tutu and the Knight will unite."  
  
"Ahhh, but I came to Gold Crown Academy so I wouldn't have to slog for English ever again," someone moaned.  
  
"You bring disgrace upon the drama section!" one of the theatre kids exclaimed. "Here, let me try... Once-upon-a-time-a-man-died-- Ellipsis? Yes! They're walking across the bridge so they can save Prince Siegfried -- eh? Level two?"  
  
  
All of Gold Crown Town was playing the game before long, it seemed. "What a boring game!" huffed one of the blonde girls at the cafe. Though she and he friend had skipped out of school for a much needed break, she was flexing her leg in preparation for the festival. "They should have thrown Princes Siegfried into the game! More drama!"  
  
Her friend whacked her on the shoulder. "How can you say that! As Princess Tutu struggles to escape from the world of fairy and the Knight -- who laid down his sword for love -- is slowly being eaten alive by an old oak tree, and you have to pull the right words out to construct that double bridge before the tree or the fairies eat Princess Tutu or the Knight, sundering them forever... How can that possibly not be enough drama for you?!"  
  
"Oh, my poor deluded dear," said the blonde girl. "There's no such thing as 'enough' drama!"  
  
The friend whipped out her phone. "I'm ignoring you," she said. "I'm going to win this game again in peace. Lilie doesn't exist for me right now."  
  
"Oh~~, are _we_ feuding now?" said Lilie with a coy smile. "What a pinch!" The smile faded off her face as something red flashed in the corner of her eye, just beyond the cafe window. "Did you see that?"  
  
Her friend painstakingly caught and dragged the first phrase into position: _May those who accept their fate be granted happiness_. "No," she muttered.  
  
"Could it have been Princess Tutu?" Lilie wondered aloud.  
  
The other girl locked the last word into position: _May those who defy it find glory_. "You know she only appears on the night of the Fire Festival," she said, and grinned. "Third stage unlocked!" and she pulled a victorious fistpump.  
  
"I guess so," Lilie sighed, wistful.  
  
  
("It doesn't bother you," Fakir says to Ahiru, "that all the things you did as Princess Tutu are attributed to a Princess Tutu who existed before either of us was born?"  
  
"Not really," Ahiru says.)  
  
  
The Fire Festival bonfire crackled with life. Already the Eleki Troupe had performed and accepted plaudits for their masterful performance of Cinderella; already the Festival was being lauded as the greatest yet and the Gold Crown students had all made flaw-free appearances.  
  
Not too far from the merry fire, an otherwise quiet painting student was explaining the third level. "The Knight has taken up the pen to help Prince Siegfried and Princess Tutu save the Maid Rue from the Monster Raven, but Princess Tutu is being beleaguered by ravens. The longer you take to remove them, the faster she disappears..."  
  
"Its an allusion to that version of the myth where she's never supposed to appear before Prince Siegfried again," explained one of the music students. He pushed his spectacle up. "It's clever because it gives them a built-in excuse to _drastically_ shorten the time limit _and_ there's the triple arch bridge. It's excruciating to watch her getting pecked. You just want to shout at the knight to _hurry up_.  
  
"The sentences are in the ravens," the painter continued, frowning at her classmate for silence. "You have to pull them off her and drop them into the circles, but if you take too long to complete an arch, the ravens in that phrase will all escape."  
  
The tallest ballet girl in the room rubbed her arms. "Ooh, now I'm scared to play this," she confessed. "But I _have_ to complete this game. I can't leave Princess Tutu and the Knight sundered forever, not today of all days." Beside her, a sculptor boy nodded.  
  
"Oh, it's not _that_ bad," said the music student, blatantly dismissing his own fearmongering. "Even amidst all of today's chaos, I finished it _hours_ ago. I can give you the answers, since I'm in a generous mood. It's the Fire Festival, after all. Ready?  
  
"Right, first arch: 'And so _comma_ a man started to write a story _full stop_.' Second phrase! 'That story _comma_ overflowing with hope' No punctuation to end this one as it bleeds right into the third phrase: 'had just begun _full stop_ '. There you go, now you too can bridge the princess and the knight, and turn her into a purifying light that rescues all of Gold Crown Town as a metatextual signifier that Prince Siegfried's time wanes and Princess Tutu's rises..."  
  
  
(He looks over his shoulder. "You're playing that game again?"  
  
She sticks her tongue out at him. "It's cute!" she defends it.  
  
"It's embarrassing," he mutters, but quietens when she waves her hand for her concentration's sake.  
  
"Ha!" she crows as the screen displays the victory screen and the music sings out in triumph. He squints at Princess Tutu and the Knight, caught mid-pas de deux.  
  
"Embarrassing," he says again.  
  
"No, shhh," says Ahiru and she holds out the screen so Fakir can see the Knight lift Princess Tutu so she plucks the golden apple from the Google logo and offers it to the viewer. The avatar of Princess Tutu curtseys and gestures to the Knight for a new dance; they spin away into the distance until they can be seen no more and then the Google results page for the Fire Festival fills the screen.  
  
"Everyone gets a golden apple tonight," says Ahiru happily.  
  
Fakir can feel the corners of his mouth twitching, no matter how much he doesn't want to give her the satisfaction. "We don't need a golden apple," he points out.  
  
"But it's nice to have one, isn't it?" she says. Ahiru leans forward and holds out her hand to Fakir. "Dance with me," she says, smiling at her own joke.  
  
"You don't dance tonight," Fakir reminds her, but he tugs her hand so she has to scoot up next to him.  
  
"Tomorrow," she insists.  
  
"Tomorrow," he agrees.)

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite a sequel to The Guardian of Gold Crown Town. But probably no more than a universe or two over.
> 
> Based in part on [this year's Google doodle for Qixi](http://www.google.com/doodles/qixi-festival-chilseok). Based in other parts on my desire to play merry hell with timelines and myths. Based one final part on my love of puns (bridge of birds; bridge of words -- yes it's awful).


End file.
